{"id":24647,"date":"2016-09-15T22:04:51","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T20:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=24647"},"modified":"2018-02-27T15:30:23","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T14:30:23","slug":"never-ever-be-confused-by-this-french-word-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/never-ever-be-confused-by-this-french-word-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Never Ever be Confused by This French Word Again!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bonjour, tout le monde !<\/strong> As a French student, you already know that the language is beautiful, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a little tricky. When you learn a second language, you start to notice a few things about your native tongue that you may have never considered before. Why is our grammar this way? Why is further<\/em> acceptable in one environment, but farther<\/em> isn’t? You may never have questioned why the expression “cat got your tongue?” exists, but the gears started turning when you learn “donner sa langue au chat<\/a><\/strong>” in French. Why do you give your tongue to a cat when you give up on something??<\/p>\n

Your curiosity may be piqued when you look up a translation to a word and see there is more than one option. Should you use an<\/strong> or ann\u00e9e<\/strong>? Dans<\/strong> or en<\/strong><\/a>? Encore <\/a><\/strong>or<\/a> toujours<\/a><\/strong>? There are plenty of confusing pairs in French – sometimes the difference is easy and other times it’s a bit tricky and you’ll have to follow a flowchart to get to the right word.<\/p>\n

Today we’re looking at something that always threw me off when I first started learning French. Hakuna matata<\/a> – this one is actually easy! Never vs ever is sometimes a bit confusing to English learners. Never means at no point in time. Ever means at any time. The problem is that both of these words are only 1 word in French: jamais<\/strong>. There is, however, one thing that distinguishes whether it’s never or ever.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Never<\/strong>
\nTo say never in French, you need to use the negative adverb ne…jamais<\/strong>. You stick the verb right between the 2 words just as with any negation (ne…pas<\/strong>, ne…que<\/strong>, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Je n’ai jamais fum\u00e9.<\/strong><\/td>\nI have never smoked.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Elle ne veut jamais d\u00eener avec moi.<\/strong><\/td>\nShe never wants to eat with me.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Malgr\u00e9 sa jolie voix, elle ne chante jamais en public.<\/strong><\/td>\nDespite her beautiful voice, she never sings in public.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ever
\n<\/strong>To say ever in French, you just remove the ne…<\/strong> before the verb. It can only mean ever if it’s followed by si<\/strong> (if) or if it’s a question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Est-ce que tu a jamais visit\u00e9 Aix-en-Provence ?<\/strong><\/td>\nHave you ever visited Aix-en-Provence?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Je ne sais pas si tu as jamais appris \u00e7a, mais…<\/strong><\/td>\nI don’t know if you’ve ever learned this, but…<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The difference is pretty clear, but you may have heard in spoken French that the ne…<\/strong> is often dropped when saying something negative. If the difference between ever and never is the ne…<\/strong> before the verb, how do you know which it is when the ne…<\/strong> is dropped?<\/p>\n

Just as in English, ne…jamais<\/strong> describes a negative event. If the sentence is referring to something negative, it is most certainly “never” and not ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mon colocataire cuisine jamais \u00e0 la maison.<\/strong><\/td>\nMy roommate never cooks at home.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bonjour, tout le monde ! As a French student, you already know that the language is beautiful, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a little tricky. When you learn a second language, you start to notice a few things about your native tongue that you may have never considered before. Why is our grammar…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3528,348592,408491,3867],"class_list":["post-24647","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-adverbs","tag-confusing-pairs","tag-jamais","tag-negation"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t